AN ELDERLY horse has been put down after it was rescued from a ditch at a Churchtown farm on Monday.

Gill Tomlinson of Peets Farm in Moss Lane said the owner of the 28-year-old male horse called ‘Seb’ was very upset about the loss of her pet.

Mrs Tomlinson, who kept Seb at her farm, said: “The horse had been penned off in the field because of his age and he wasn’t walking very well.

“We don’t know how he managed to get out and walk to the other end of the field – we think he had a bit of dementia.”

A crew from Southport fire station was joined by a crew of Lancashire firefighters, plus John Tomlinson, in hoisting the stricken animal from its entrapment at Peets Farm.

After arriving around 10am, the crews were at the scene for over an hour using manpower, a sling and a net.

Mrs Tomlinson said the crews were absolutely fantastic and also paid tribute to the vet in attendance and local farmer Jim Baxter, who drove his tractor free-of-charge to provide the force to free Seb from the ditch.